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Ionic liquid drugs hit the spot

18 Apr 2012

Robin-Rogers_ionic-liquid-research_250_tcm18-216842

Biologically active ionic liquids supported on mesoporous silica provide solid handling with fast and complete release in an aqueous environment © Andreea Cojocaru and Gabriela Gurau/The University of Alabama

Pharmaceutically active ionic liquids have been immobilised onto solid supports to enable liquid drugs to be administered in solid form. Scientists from the US and Europe hope that their work will make the pharmaceutical industry consider ionic liquids as a viable alternative to solid drugs.

Pharmaceutically active ionic liquids are more soluble and stable than solid drugs and they are better at getting across cell membranes. But they are difficult to prepare and are not easy to handle. Robin Rogers from the University of Alabama in the US and colleagues immobilised the liquids onto mesoporous silica to improve preparation and handling.

The team combined known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into new dual functioning liquid salts in two ways. ‘In the first, we combined an acidic API with a basic API simply by grinding or mixing them together,’ explains Rogers. ‘This produces a salt in which the proton has transferred from the acid to the base.’ In the second, they started with a cationic API and an anionic API and exchanged the inert counterions to produce a new salt of API1+ and API2-.

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Link to journal article
Pharmaceutically Active Ionic Liquids with Solids Handling, Enhanced Thermal Stability, and Fast Release
Katharina Bica , Hector Rodriguez , Gabriela Gurau , O. Andreea Cojocaru , Anders Riisager , R Fehrmann and Robin D. Rogers
Chem. Commun., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC30959A

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Shining a light on fingerprint detection

10 Apr 2012

Scientists in China have discovered a method for visualising latent fingerprints found at the scene of a crime, which they say is very simple, rapid, does not require professional forensic treatment and does not destroy the print.

Bin Su and co-workers from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, noticed that the conjugated compound tetraphenylethene (TPE) adhered to the greasy ridges of fingerprints via a hydrophobic interaction. TPE is non-fluorescent in acetonitrile solution, but when light with a 365nm wavelength is shone onto the solution, the compound can lose the extra energy by rotating. However, when TPE sticks to the fingerprint, its molecules clump together (or aggregate). The aggregated molecules can no longer rotate, so instead, they release the energy as light. This phenomenon is known as aggregation induced emission (AIE) and has been used in sensors, but never as a means of detecting fingerprints.

The fingerprints were enhanced by aggregation induced emission of tetraphenylethene
© iStockphoto

Read the full story in Chemistry World

Link to journal article
Aggregation induced emission for the recognition of latent fingerprints
Yan Li , Linru Xu and Bin Su
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 4109-4111, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC30553D

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Mass spectrometry imaging: the new tool in counterfeit security

04 Apr 2012

The ever-increasing sophistication of the counterfeit trade is a growing economic problem, and when applied to pharmaceuticals, dangerous to human health. More covert strategies are required to combat the trade and US researchers have developed a potentially vital tool in the battle against counterfeiting.

A group at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, led by Vincent Rotello, incorporated gold nanoparticles into ink by straightforward inkjet printing. This ‘barcode’ can be detected in an ambient and non-destructive manner by laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry imaging – a method to determine the spatial distribution of particles based on their mass. More conventional methods, such as chromatography, require sample destruction for analysis, and non-destructive analytical techniques usually do not give specific chemical information.

Nanoparticle barcode: a mass spectrometry image of different printed gold nanoparticles, overlapping. When scanned, the blue letters of one nanoparticle were detected at m/z = 548; the green letters of another nanoparticle were detected at m/z = 422; and the red pattern from Au+ was detected at m/z = 197

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Link to journal article
Laser desorption ionization mass spectrometric imaging of mass barcoded gold nanoparticles for security applications
B Creran et al
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30499f

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New drug delivery agents

22 Mar 2012

Platinum complexes have been employed as anti-cancer drugs for years despite significant side effects. Second generation metal-complex anti-cancer drugs in contrast are still in their infancy, and suffer from low solubility and high reactivity, leading to deactivation before the drug can reach its target.

To overcome these problems, scientists in Australia have developed a gold-based drug chemically incorporated in a polymeric micelle as a drug delivery agent. The resulting molecules showed potent in vitro antitumour activity in human ovarian carcinoma cells.

Link to journal article
Micelles based on Gold-Glycopolymer Complexes as New Chemotherapy Drug Delivery Agents
S Pearson, W Scarano and M H Stenzel
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30510k

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Stopping bugs in their tracks

20 Mar 2012

To prevent the spread of bugs, scientists in Switzerland have starved microbes of phosphate by using lanthanum oxide nanoparticles. The nanoparticles compete against the microbes for available phosphate and so the microbes can’t grow. The team says that the strategy is of particular technical interest as it can bypass toxic material release and provides an antimicrobial solution with small environmental footprint.

Link to journal article
Phosphate starvation as an antimicrobial strategy: the controllable toxicity of lanthanum oxide nanoparticles
L C Gerber et al
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30903c

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Top ten most accessed articles in February

19 Mar 2012

This month sees the following articles in ChemComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

Transition metal catalysis and nucleophilic fluorination
Charlotte Hollingworth and Véronique Gouverneur
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 2929-2942, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC16158C

Use of dimethyl carbonate as a solvent greatly enhances the biaryl coupling of aryl iodides and organoboron reagents without adding any transition metal catalysts
Kiyofumi Inamoto, Chisa Hasegawa, Kou Hiroya, Yoshinori Kondo, Takao Osako, Yasuhiro Uozumi and Takayuki Doi
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 2912-2914, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17401D

Pd-catalysed synthesis of isoquinolinones and analogues via C-H and N-H bonds double activation
Hongban Zhong, Dan Yang, Songqing Wang and Jianhui Huang
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3236-3238, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17859A

Photoisomerization locking of azobenzene by formation of a self-assembled macrocycle
Masaki Yamamura, Yuki Okazaki and Tatsuya Nabeshima
Chem. Commun., 2012, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC18014F

Highly selective red- and green-emitting two-photon fluorescent probes for cysteine detection and their bio-imaging in living cells
Zhiguang Yang, Ning Zhao, Yuming Sun, Fang Miao, Yong Liu, Xin Liu, Yuanhong Zhang, Wentao Ai, Guofen Song, Xiaoyuan Shen, Xiaoqiang Yu, Jingzhi Sun and Wai-Yeung Wong
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3442-3444, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC00093H

A reversible near-infrared fluorescence probe for reactive oxygen species based on Te-rhodamine
Yuichiro Koide, Mitsuyasu Kawaguchi, Yasuteru Urano, Kenjiro Hanaoka, Toru Komatsu, Masahiro Abo, Takuya Terai and Tetsuo Nagano
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3091-3093, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC18011A

A supramolecular hydrogel containing boronic acid-appended receptor for fluorocolorimetric sensing of polyols with a paper platform
Masato Ikeda, Keisuke Fukuda, Tatsuya Tanida, Tatsuyuki Yoshii and Itaru Hamachi
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 2716-2718, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17503G

N-Heterocyclic carbene chemistry of iron: fundamentals and applications
Michael J. Ingleson and Richard A. Layfield
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3579-3589, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC18021A

Reversible formal insertion of CO₂ into a remote C-H bond of a ligand in a Ru(ii) complex at room temperature
Vincent T. Annibale and Datong Song
Chem. Commun., 2012, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17933D

A turn-on two-photon fluorescent probe for ATP and ADP
Alla Sreenivasa Rao, Dokyoung Kim, Hyoseok Nam, Hunho Jo, Ki Hean Kim, Changill Ban and Kyo Han Ahn
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3206-3208, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17629G

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

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Cheap and non-toxic porphyrins for detecting cells deep within the body

08 Mar 2012

Near-infrared fluorescent imaging can be used for rapid and sensitive detection of cells deep within the body. However, common NIR dyes and quantum dots are expensive and/or toxic.

Porphyrins are economical fluorescent dyes, but their emission and excitation wavelengths are shorter than the NIR region and they can be toxic and poorly water-soluble. Scientists in Japan have made silica–porphyrin hybrid nanotubes that have no acute toxicity and higher water solubility compared to porphyrin. They used them to label macrophages, injected them into mice and tracked their distribution by fluorescence imaging with good results.

Link to journal article
Silica/Porphyrin Hybrid Nanotubes for In Vivo Cell Tracking by Near-Infrared Fluorescence Imaging
K Hayashi, M Nakamura and K Ishimura
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc17444h

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Micro power for micro devices

08 Mar 2012

An easy way to make high-performance micro-supercapacitors based on nanocrystal building blocks has been developed by scientists in the US and China. Micro-power sources have become a key component for micro-electronics but they are expensive and difficult to make. To demonstrate their concept, the team made nanoporous thin-film pseudocapacitor electrodes that showed ultrafast lithium storage kinetics, high capacitance and excellent cycling stability, giving them great promise for high energy and high power micro-device applications.

Link to journal article
Ready Fabrication of Thin-Film Electrodes from Building Nanocrystals for Micro-Supercapacitors
Z Chen et al
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30406f

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Hydrogen storage material reaches 12wt% release of pure hydrogen at moderate temperature

08 Mar 2012

Ammine aluminium borohydrides are promising materials for hydrogen storage but they have low hydrogen capacities and sluggish kinetics under moderate temperatures.

Now, by changing the coordination number of ammonia and adopting mixed cations, scientists in China have found an ammine aluminium borohydride that releases over 12wt% of pure hydrogen at 120^oC. This is well above the minimum abundance of hydrogen required for on-board applications, they say.

Link to journal article
Ammine aluminum borohydrides: an appealing system releasing over 12 wt.% pure H2 under moderate temperature
Y Guo et al
Chem Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30751k

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Can arsenic bind to bacterial DNA?

01 Mar 2012

In 2011, a paper published in Science claimed that bacteria from Mono Lake, California, US, had not only evolved to tolerate arsenic, but had incorporated it into their DNA. The paper led to criticism, with many scientists saying that the arsenate compounds formed would be unstable in water. Now, scientists from the US and China say that arsenic substituted DNA may be more stable than first thought.

Jiande Gu and Jerzy Leszczynski and colleagues from Jackson State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ran a computational study that revealed that the base-stacking structure of DNA could increase the resistance of the arsenate towards hydrolysis, compared with current arsenate models. ‘However, our study also suggested that arsenated DNA (As-DNA) is still less stable than normal DNA when hydrolysis is considered,’ says Leszczynski. ‘Normal’ DNA has a backbone made of sugar and phosphate groups joined by phosphodiester linkages. Arsenic replaces the phosphorus in As-DNA.

DNA structure with arsenic replacing phosphorus in the backbone

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Link to journal article
Could Hydrolysis of Arsenic Substituted DNA be Prevented?: Protection Arises from Stacking Interactions
Jing Wang, Jiande Gu and Jerzy Leszczynski
Chem. Commun., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2CC16600C, Communication

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Chemical Communications Blog

Author Archive

Ionic liquid drugs hit the spot

Shining a light on fingerprint detection

Mass spectrometry imaging: the new tool in counterfeit security

New drug delivery agents

Stopping bugs in their tracks

Cheap and non-toxic porphyrins for detecting cells deep within the body

Micro power for micro devices

Hydrogen storage material reaches 12wt% release of pure hydrogen at moderate temperature

Can arsenic bind to bacterial DNA?

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